Signed copies of Emergence Collective are also available.
Signing copies!
Tag: reading
Audible update: Chapter 2 and 3
If you are new to my blog you may be wondering what is the Audible updates I keep posting. I get a fair amount of requests to have my books available on Audible. I am poor, my books do not sell enough to pay for a narrator to record them (or even a nice dinner) so as with most things I do, that I need done and lack resources to do, I learn how to do it, and do it myself. While it is not a perfect solution, it has worked out so far.
I started the “Audible project.” I scrounged enough money to buy a decent microphone. I employed a friend to do the recording (but that did not work out) so I decided to do it myself. I started recording in my dining room, the only space available. That began a crash course in acoustics and learning to use the recording software (I am still learning but figured out enough to pass.) My first episodes were a disaster and I apologize to the brave souls who endured that. Little by little I improved both the sound quality and my terrible narration. Narrating is a skill that does not get enough credit so give Kudos to your favorite narrators, the unsung heroes. I got used to hearing my own voice and I think my sight reading skills are improving.
I graduated from the dining room table to a cozy closet space that has drastically improved the overall sound quality, although there is nothing I can do about the murder of crows that live in my neighborhood. I had previously recorded up to chapter 21 of Emergence Collective, but decided to start over with the improvements. I had originally planned on replacing the episodes one at a time to maintain continuity with the story, however I got heavy handed deleting drafts and organizing Anchor for Spotify and accidently deleted some of the recordings (I mentioned this in a previous post.) That forced the decision to scrap everything and start from scratch.
I do not mourn the loss of those hours recording and editing. That time is served well by giving me practice and a learning experience. Here I am now, Chapters 2 and 3 published yester and I am back in the saddle so to speak. My intention is to record every Sunday morning. That being said If you are reading this blog, you get to have free access to the Audio version of my books, narrated by me. So I toss my ego aside and try not to cringe at my voice, I hope you enjoy the story. If you do, The best way to support me is to buy my books (of course) and leave a rating and review on the platform that you purchased it. I am now published world wide on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others. The reviews are very important (Not just to give me the warm feels) but it helps get me noticed and helps readers find new books to read.
Downtime
Needing some downtime. NaNoWrimo was a great challenge, but to accomplish it, I put off and set aside a lot of things (I should have been doing). Sacrifices needed to be made. Catching up on those things and mental fatigue is telling me to chill for a bit. It’s the holidays anyway, so I am taking it slow between family gatherings and other festivities.
I feel that I had a productive year with my writing and art. Looking forward to 2024! My current work in progress, “Yellow Man,” will be my focus once I return to it. I finished the novel for NaNoWrimo, but it is not complete. There is a daunting amount of editing, plot holes, and things I want to add and clarify. The story is kind of complicated (because I am a masochist, I suppose), and it will take some finesse to clean it up for publishing.
The same thing goes with the Audible project. I have good intentions to work on it, but now I am busy again, and to do it right, I need the right mindset as well (and the holiday cheer Saturday night doesn’t help recording Sunday morning)
By the way, did you know that Kindle is an excellent gift? It’s instant, and there are no shipping charges!
Thanks for stopping by!
Audible Update: Chapters 8 and 9!
I just recorded Chapters 8 and 9. they were short, so I decided to combine them into one episode. I fixed the technical difficulties that prevented last week’s recording and fiddled with some settings that have improved my overall sound quality. As far as the story goes, things really start picking up speed, and gets pretty crazy from here on out. If you haven’t started listening, you’re missing out. Of course you can read it for yourself (Link embedded on the cover art). Feel free to comment or just say hi! Id love to hear what you think so far!
Character snapshot,Visual edition: Barney Derrick
I really enjoyed writing Barney’s Character. I wanted to make a character that you love to hate. I am sure everyone has met a person like Barney.
The sound of Barney’s boots echoed down the quiet hall with a hypnotic cadence. The overhead fluorescent lights seemed to flicker in time with his footfalls. He arrived at the lab and pushed through the door, causing it to bounce off the wall. Drab faces looked up from computer screens at the abrupt entrance. A soldier rushed over with a handful of disheveled paperwork, trying to organize it into a manila folder before handing it off to his superior. Barney grabbed the folder out of his and studied the file briefly. The soldier watched as he scrutinized the file, flipping pages, eyes scanning. Barney’s nose crinkled against his mustache, causing the soldier to wince. He held the folder out for the soldier to take it, allowing the pages to slip out with a whoosh onto the floor.
“What is this? Is this how I am going to get all of your reports? Is this how you show your respect to your country, to me?”
“Sir! No Sir!”
“This report is not even in order! Do you expect me to finish your work for you?”
“I understand, Sir, no Sir, I apologize, Sir.”
“Well–What are you waiting for?”
“Umm …yes, sir,” the soldier said as he scrambled to collect all of the paperwork and organize it all at once.
“Umm, yes, Sir? That’s how you address a superior officer? An umm? You Sure this is the right career for you, boy? How did you manage to crawl your sorry ass out of basic training?” he scolded, then turned away so that he could smile without being seen. Ah that felt good, better than coffee, and I’ll never get a bad report from that kid again. He took a few steps before turning around to see the soldier standing at attention, holding the folder in his shaky hands.
“Sir, your report is ready for your review Sir.” The Airman forced his words out.
Barney snatched it out of the soldier’s hands. Again, the soldier watched his eyes and fingers do their work. “That’s better, Airman. You’re dismissed.” The young Airman made his way to his desk and sat down, all the while avoiding eye contact.
Character snapshot, Visual edition: Mark and Trina
It’s a character snapshot, but these two characters are equally important
together as they are apart, so I decided to lump the snapshot together. I
really enjoyed writing the relationship between these two. I really wanted to
express the kind of purity of love two people could share if they had the
freedom of innocence….
Mark’s beat-up Honda fishtailed around the corner of the driveway and then
skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust in front of the longhouse. Trina had
a white-knuckle grip on the dashboard as if she was holding on for dear
life. “Why do you have to drive like a crazy person?” she shouted, but the look
on her face was one of excitement rather than terror. “Umm, because
it’s fun?” he said with a chuckle. “Well, here we are. Let’s find the best
cabin before anyone else calls dibs.”
“Yeah, good call,” she said as she got out of the car and stretched her
back. “This is a cool place,” she said as she looked around, taking in the
layout of the place. “But geez, namaste much?” Mark chuckled at that last
remark. “Yeah, he was the poster child for hippies, I guess. That’s
probably why my dad and Grandad pretended he didn’t exist.” “I think
you might be cut from the same cloth, honey, ya know? A long-hair dropout in a
family of lawyers and doctors. You’re not gonna get rich, but I love ya,”
she said softly.
He walked over and put his hands on her tiny waist, and pulled her close to
him. “That’s how I know you love me. You’re not a gold digger. He
whispered in her ear, “That makes me richer than any of ’em.”
“I think this place is making you mushy,” she whispered back. He moved
closer to her ear. “It’s also making me horny.” Then he playfully swatted her
butt. She pretended to be mad and started to push him away but grabbed his
hand and started pulling him to the cabins. “Let’s go find us a cabin, my
‘mushy’ man,” she said and winked at him. He dared not resist as she led
him down a random path. “These cabins are all in good condition. I was
imagining something like sleeping in a dirty barn,” Trina said as she
peered into the window of a pleasant-looking cabin. “I like this one, but I
want something, ya know, a little more private.” “Anything for you,
love,” he said, smiling. “Yeah, I think Uncle Frank had a lot of time on his
hands and kept the place up nicely.”
They reached the end of the path at a cabin that seemed to be the farthest
from all the others. Mark walked up the few steps to the porch and opened
the door. “Should I carry you over the threshold?” Trina pushed past him
with a smirk. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, bucko,” she said
sarcastically.
“Well then,” he said with an exaggerated bow, “after you, m’lady,” then
followed her in.
Character snapshot, Visual edition: Frank
I’ve been playing with Artificial “Art” generators. Honestly, I am on the fence about how I feel about artificial content creation. While I am diametrically opposed to using AI to generate content on my blog or ANYTHING that I would put my name on as my own. But I do see value in using it as a tool to spark my own imagination. I feel AI art or other content can be used in the same way as writing prompts or thumbnail sketches to fine-tune an idea.
AI is a new and fun (sometimes frightening) technology that I am willing to explore. I wanted to know what it could do, so I decided to see how close it could get to my own internal visualization of my characters. I am also curious if you had a similar image in mind of my characters as you read my story.
The first thing I learned is AI art is NOT human art. (a relief, as a human, I don’t want to be deposed as an artist). There are things that it (in my experience) just can’t get right. Faces are number one. They are always a little “off,” a tad skewed, and more disproportionate than reality has to offer. And some of my descriptions go completely ignored no matter how I word them. (Again, proving that only a fool would rely on AI to make content that you would claim to be yours)
The image I described for Frank came out pretty close (but since Frank’s appearance and a few character traits are based on someone I actually know, it’s not perfect, of course, but it’s close enough).
An expert from “Emergence Collective.”
Still lost in his thoughts and even a little excited, he must have been
driving faster than he realized since he got to the hardware store in
quick time. It was good, though; the evening was going by fast, and the
store was about to close up for the night. He got out of his Volkswagen van
and pushed open the old door of the storefront. He only got a few steps
into the store when the cashier gave him an odd look. The young kid had spiky
black hair and a ring in his nose.
“Mister… you can’t come in here like that, sorry.” The young kid sounded
apologetic and amused at the same time.
“Like what?” Frank was oblivious to any reason why he should not be
there.
“Your feet, bro. You have to have shoes to come in; it’s a safety thing.
Might step on a nail and sue us or something.” A smile indicating laughter
was soon to follow was on the boy’s face by now.
Frank looked down at his feet and realized that he wasn’t wearing shoes. The
thick calluses on his perpetually dirty feet did not feel shoes in the
summer most of the time. He was an old hippy and stuck in a time warp.
Shoes were for winter when it was too cold to go without. He chuckled at
himself and smiled back at the cashier.
“Sorry,” Frank said with a bit of a giggle. He was not embarrassed by his
attire. Look at that kid; why should I be embarrassed by the way I dress?
he thought to himself, almost laughing out loud. Nonchalantly turning
around, he gave the cashier a nod goodbye and headed for the exit. He
only felt a little disgruntled by the situation since it was a wasted
trip. He did not have anything much to do anyway, but wasted gasoline was
wasted money.
Audible update: Chapter 6
Today’s recording went well. I’m getting the hang of it, I think. Chapter 6 is a short one; I had intended to push through and get chapter 7 recorded this morning but ran out of quiet time. This is one of my favorites chapters, Frank and Barney meet and Frank goes spelunking. When I wrote this I referred to it as “The story of Frank”. The story of Frank is one of my favorite parts of the story. I think once we get into chapter 7 you might agree. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoy!
Audible update :Chapter 5
A quick update! Chapter 5 is recorded and I am almost pleased.The narration was a lot smoother (Im getting better at it) and the editing has improved. Thats why we practice folks. I feel that by the time I finish I will have it down well enough to Re-record it at a level that will be acceptable for ACX (audible format)
Check it out on spotify!
Keeping the momentum going
In my last post, I talked about how excited I am to finish “Emergence Ascended” and the next few books I want to complete this year. Here is my list of story ideas I am excited about, but I am curious about what you might want to read in the future. Here is my list: (Some of these are working titles…)
- “Field notes” A park ranger gets abducted by a troop of sasquatch in the pacific northwest.
- “The Ghost in yellow” A paranormal investigation team becomes stranded at a supposedly haunted Lighthouse.
- “Will-o-the wisp” A man travels back to his home village in Ireland to investigate the strange disappearances of the townsfolk.
- “Phantom black” A Lovecraft-inspired science fiction. (A quick short version of the story I want to expand on)
There is the list. I would love to hear what floats your boats! Leave me a comment below about what would be exciting for you to read! Thanks for visiting!
Hand-prints of Darkness 